On Cambodia 65th Anniversary of Independence

You must be wondering why there was no letter sent on 9 November 2018 which was the date of the 65th anniversary of the independence of Cambodia?

The answer is simple: for 3 years in a row, letters were written to you on the 62nd, the 63rd and the 64th independence of Cambodia. Sadly, on the 65th anniversary, nothing has changed; on the contrary, Cambodia is getting worst and worst:
– the weak strongman has murdered democracy,
– he organized a sham election transforming Cambodia into a corrupt one-party state,
– he vassalized Cambodia into a state dependent on China and Vietnam, and
– the free world subjects him and his sycophants to various degrees of sanctions.

Where is then your students’ feeling of celebration, their pride of being a free and independent Khmer when the weak strongman shackles the 3 branches of power to his greed for absolute power and endless self-enrichment?

The French left. The Vietnamese arrived. So do the Chinese.

The lesson that Khmer can learn from the 1953 independence is that if Sihanouk could wrestle Cambodia out of the yoke of French colonialism, other Cambodians also can do the same to free Cambodia from the yoke of autocracy of the ex-Khmer Rouge and his corrupt sycophants that are supported by contemporary foreign hegemons.